The present invention relates to a scroll compressor in which a motor element and a scroll compression element driven by the motor element are received in a vertical type sealed container and in which a refrigerant sucked through a suction tube connected to an end cap constituting the sealed container is compressed by the scroll compression element to discharge the refrigerant through a discharge tube connected to a container main body constituting the sealed container.
Heretofore, this type of scroll compressor has a constitution in which an electric motor (a motor element constituted of a motor) and a scroll compression element driven by this electric motor are received in a vertical type sealed container and in which a refrigerant sucked through a suction tube connected to an end cap constituting the sealed container is compressed by the scroll compression element to discharge the refrigerant through a discharge tube connected to a cylindrical container main body.
The scroll compressor is provided with a guide passage which guides a compressed gas discharged to a discharge chamber provided in the upper part of the sealed container, to the outer peripheral surface of a coil end provided above the motor element. This guide passage is formed of a frame having a U-shaped section and the inner surface of the sealed container. On the outlet side of the guide passage is provided a deflection plate which changes the flow direction of a refrigerant gas circulated through the guide passage so as to discharge the gas to the outer peripheral surface of a coil end portion.
Moreover, the refrigerant gas discharged from the scroll compression element to the discharge chamber descends along a communication path, is guided to the upper part of a motor element, flows into the guide passage in the frame, and then collides with the deflection plate. In consequence, the flow direction of the descending refrigerant gas is deflected, and the gas is discharged from the opening of the guide passage on an outlet side to the outer peripheral surface of the coil end portion of the motor element. In this case, the area of the outlet-side opening is set to an area larger than that of the guide passage, whereby the outflow velocity of oil and the gas is lowered to improve an oil separating function. The oil included in the refrigerant gas is collected by the coil end portion (see Examined Patent Application Publication No. 06-47993 (Patent Document 1)).
However, in the conventional technology in which the area of the outlet-side opening is set to the area larger than that of the guide passage to lower the outflow velocity of the oil and the gas and improve the oil separating function, thereby collecting the oil included in the refrigerant gas by the coil end portion, since the area of the outlet-side opening is simply set to the area larger than that of the guide passage, the separation efficiency of the oil included in the refrigerant gas has its limits. In consequence, there has been a problem that the oil is discharged through the discharge tube after all.
The present invention has been developed to solve such a problem of the conventional technology, and an object thereof is to provide a scroll compressor capable of improving the oil separating function of a refrigerant gas discharged from a scroll compression element to effectively suppress the amount of oil to be discharged through a discharge tube.